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Villagers Fail To Make Progress

Uddingston Rugby Club hosted Lenzie RFC last Saturday in their RBS West Division 2 fixture at Bothwell Castle Policies and suffered a crucial defeat going down 30-5. Desperate to pull themselves up from their second bottom position in the league table, it was a game they needed to win, but a much stronger, fitter and determined opposition put paid to that becoming a reality.

Throughout the game, the Villagers got few opportunities to play the free flowing rugby they enjoy and for long periods came under sustained pressure forcing them into playing defensively. This took its toll on the home side, particularly in the second half and as the Villagers began to tire, Lenzie found their second wind and, in the process, went on to secure most of their points in the latter half of the match.

Failing to find space, numerous missed tackles, poor kicking and conceding too many penalties provided the visitors with opportunities which they were happy to exploit.

In the 20th minute Uddingston were penalised for blocking and Danny Scoular was on target with his kick to give Lenzie a 3 point opener.In the 30th minute, the visitors managed to work their way forward to within 5 metres of the home try line. Despite good defending by the Villagers, a gap was eventually found enabling Duncan McLean to burst through to claim Lenzie’s first try of the game. Scoular was on target with the conversion stretching the visitors lead to 10-0.

Uddingston were desperate to get back into the game and reduce the deficit before half time. The breakthrough came two minutes into injury time when Mike McKeown pulled five points back for the Villagers. An Uddingston line out was given just 10 metres from the visitors line and McKeown caught and secured the ball. Good driving brought the Villagers to within 2 metres of the line and McKeown then seized his chance by spinning off the back of the maul to go over in the corner. The conversion kick went wide and at half time the Villagers were trailing 5-10.

Despite their confidence receiving a boost from McKeown’s try just on half time, the Villagers struggled throughout the second half to counter Lenzie’s strong advances and conceded a further 20 points before the whistle blew for full time. Tries by Graham Condie, Martin Williams and David Craig killed the match for the Villagers with Scoular slotting a penalty and one further conversion to round off the game with a comprehensive 5-30 victory.